Review: Unhinged by A.G. Howard

In Splintered, A.G. Howard’s dark remaining of Alice in Wonderland, Alyssa Gardner was crowned a Queen in Wonderland. Yet she chose to leave her subjects so she could live in the human realm. For a year she’s been trying to be regular Alyssa again, with her boyfriend, Jeb, her newly returned mom, her friends, the prom, and the promise of a future in London.

But Morpheus, the seductive, manipulative netherling who haunts her dreams, won’t let her leave behind her legacy that easily. Neither will Wonderland, which appears to be suffering from her neglect.

Alyssa is torn between two worlds: Jeb and her human life… and the intoxicating wilderness of Wonderland – and Morpheus. When those worlds collide and Wonderland starts to invade her “real” life, Alyssa must find a way to keep balance between the two realms or lose everything she loves.

Firstly, get a load of that cover! I know the old saying about judging books and all that but honestly, the cover was what originally made me pick up Splintered (book one) in the first place. The cover for Unhinged is no different.

Just a heads up, there will be spoilers for Splintered in this review.

Unhinged is book two in the Splintered series and picks up shortly after Splintered leaves off. Alyssa is still hiding Jeb’s memories of Wonderland, her mum is home and struggling to reconnect with the ‘real world’, and a certain blue moth is still hanging around trying to get Alissa’s attention.

Because Wonderland is in trouble.

Red is back and with Wonderland falling to her darkness again, Morpheus is more insistent than ever that Alyssa returns as queen. When she refuses (honestly though, who could say no to that guy?) Morpheus joins her in the human world and makes it clear he will do just about anything to get her to go back with him.

What I really loved about both Splintered and Unhinged is how Howard takes the already crazy world of Wonderland and transforms it into something even more twisted than it already is. Rabid White and the Mome Wraiths would have to be my favourite examples of this.

Alyssa is also a totally awesome heroine. She makes her own choices and while she is pretty weak when it comes to Jeb and Morpheus’ pretty faces, she can hold her own against them too. She’s a strong character, which is what makes her unravelling in Unhinged that much more interesting.

There’s also a love triangle and it’s one of those rare ones actually done well. When it comes to Jeb and Morpheus I’m still not sure which way it’s going to go. Jeb took a bit of a back seat in Unhinged until the end, but he made a massive comeback. He’s sweet and protective and everything cute. Morpheus is just a jerk most of the time. But there are the moments he let’s Alyssa in and when that happens, he’s totally swoon-worthy.

Now, like Splintered, Unhinged gets pretty dark in places. But unlike Splintered, it’s kind of hard to tell who is causing what mayhem because every character seems to have their own motivations and agendas.

Honestly, I would have liked to see a little more of Wonderland this time around, but it was pretty cool seeing everything seep out of the rabbit hole and into the human world too.

If you are a fan of Alice in Wonderland, or just any books that has equal parts romance, action, and mystery, go pick up this series. You won’t regret it.